When Nardelli first arrived at Home Depot, he was deemed an outsider of a close-knit organization. Nonetheless, the board had made the decision that he was the best person for the task at hand. Being a seasoned manager, Nardelli, who had the expertise to see continued growth, provided the base for the changes Home Depot needed (Charan, 2006). The first step that Nardelli quickly recognized was …show more content…
The first part was to enhance the core by improving the profitability of both current and future stores within the existing markets (Charan, 2006). The next part was the extend the business by beginning to offer related services such as; tool rental and home installation of products being offered by Home Depot. The final part was to expand the present market, both geographically and by targeting new customers, such as big construction contractors. The challenge met with this three-part strategy would lie within the present Home Depot culture (Charan, 2006).
When the approach Nardelli is compared to that of Kotter and Cohen’s 8-step change model, we can quickly notice why his approach was not the most effective. While he did first identify what changes were needed in order for Home Depot to see continued success, he failed to do much more (Charan, 2006). Part of Kotter and Cohen’s change model is identifying what the vision is, which Nardelli did with his three-part strategy (Kotter & Cohen, 2002). However, he did not really create a guiding team in order to help see this strategy for the entire company. Therefore, he was met with resistance at …show more content…
He attempted to force change quickly, which backfired. As Kotter and Cohen explain, by sustaining acceleration, it can enable change to be met more positively, rather than failing (Kotter & Cohen, 2002). Therefore, Nardelli re-evaluated his approach and began working towards ensuring future goals were more informed and introduced in stages, rather than overnight (Charan, 2006).
By the end, after trial and error on Nardelli’s end, he was able to see his three-part strategy become a success. By properly instituting change, Kotter and Cohen’s eighth step, Nardelli was able to gain the necessary support, which aided in the success of the necessary changes. By working to become the leader that Home Depot needed, rather than the leader he had been prior to joining the Home Depot team, it enabled greater success (Kotter & Cohen, 2002). He was also able to gain the necessary support of managers and employees, who began accepting the change and understood why it needed to